Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Premier League.
Emirates StadiumAttendance60,261.
Report and free match highlights as Arsenal began their season with an opening weekend 2-0 win over Wolves; Kai Havertz headed the Gunners into the lead and Bukayo Saka sealed the points in the second half; David Raya made some big saves from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha
Saturday 17 August 2024 22:42, UK
Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scored one and set the other up as Arsenal returned to Premier League action with a tense 2-0 win over Wolves.
Last year's runners-up, looking to go one better and win a first title for 21 years this season, came out with a point to prove with a dominant first-half display, which saw Havertz give them the lead from Saka's pin-point cross.
But Arsenal struggled to extend their early advantage, with Wolves enjoying the better of the chances for the best part of an hour. They should have levelled from debutant Jorgen Strand Larsen's header, only for David Raya to keep the Wolves striker out with a superb save.
Wolves' pressure continued after the break as Rayan Ait-Nouri fired wide, then substitute Matheus Cunha fired straight at Raya after William Saliba's near-costly error.
Arsenal, however, made Wolves pay for their misfiring players as Saka picked up Havertz's pass and crashed a near-post effort past Jose Sa. It was a trademark left-foot finish from the England forward, and Arteta compared Saka to Lionel Messi in his ability to keep causing damage on his left foot despite it being a strength opponents look out for.
"With good players it's like that, with Messi I know he's gonna come here and put the ball there," said Arteta. "But he does it all the time. You can't stop him. That's the quality of the player."
Player of the match Raya, who won last season's Golden Glove, had to make one more spectacular save from Pablo Sarabia close to full-time to keep the clean sheet in tact. They were not their spectacular selves, but Arsenal got the job done.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta:
"What I've seen is the willingness. Whether we're gonna do it [win the title] or not, we'll have to show it every day in how we play and the results that we take away.
"In the first game there's always that uncertainty about how you're going to react, especially against a difficult opponent. We scored two, kept a clean sheet. Job done, score two, clean sheet, win.
"Win in any context. You'll have better days, or worse days. The opposition will guide you to play in a specific type of way. Today we won in a convincing way, but probably in a different way because it's what the game requires."
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil:
"There are moments in the game where you feel like they really hurt you. Saka, Martinelli, Havertz, Odegaard. They can hurt you at times.
"But when I look back tow how I faced them last year, I adapted the game plan quite a lot to suit them, but because of the work we did in pre-season, I wanted to see plan A and see what we'd be. I thought the lads carried it out very well.
"Not many people thought we would be close today with Max Kilman and Pedro Neto leaving in the summer and us being the unknown with the young players. People would have had it as a comfortable win for Arsenal."
Sky Sports' Sam Blitz at the Emirates Stadium:
David Raya was player of the match, Bukayo Saka was a crucial goalscorer and Declan Rice was his usual, industrious self.
All three players were on international duty for the Euro 2024 final just 34 days ago, but they were making a difference at both ends of the pitch for Arsenal - and their title bid is off to a positive start once again.
Meanwhile, Man City don't have Rodri for their opener against Chelsea due to injury, while Phil Foden and Kyle Walker will go into Sunday's game without any pre-season minutes. Saka, Rice and Raya now have three games under their belt since the final.
"I'm not surprised," said Arteta after the match, when asked about his players' mentality to get back from international duty early. "That was their mentality straight away after the last game they said: 'I'm gonna be ready for the first game.'
"They were already getting prepared when they were on holidays. This is the mentality that we need. If players are doing that compromise it will grow around the team and they will step up the level."
It rubbed off on the rest of the Arsenal players. Those three and the rest of the Gunners team pressed Wolves into submission to the point they simply had to give Arsenal the lead.
Stepping up a level, as Arteta says, is exactly what Arsenal need. The margins to Man City are so small. The willingness from his busy players to get back at it this season is an early indication of what Arsenal we're about to see.
Pep Guardiola said at the back end of last season that they received a message from Arsenal that they would go again for years to come. The champions have got another one.
The Gunners are pretty much ready for the season, now what are City made of?
